Supersized hailstone nearly breaks Minnesota record

One of the largest hailstones in Minnesota's recorded history fell from the sky in a rural area near the town of Chokio in Stevens County on Wednesday, July 31.

When the storm report at 4:48 p.m. Wednesday said 5-inch hailstones will unleashing from a severe thunderstorm three miles northwest of Chokio, it was easy to assume it there was an error in the reporting. But lo and behold it was fact and 5-inch hailstones were pummeling the area, including one mammoth chunk of hail measured at approximately six inches in diameter.

Matthew Benson of Everglade Township snapped photograph proof of the monsters.

The beast that measured nearly half a foot across — officially 5.7 inches, per the National Weather Service — is the largest hailstone recorded in Minnesota since 1986.

The state record is 6.0 inches, having occurred near the town of Reading in southwestern Minnesota in 1986 and before that near Elgin in southwestern Minnesota in 1955.

What's a bit terrifying is that massive hailstones of 4+ inches in diameter can fall from the sky at up to 100 mph , according to the National Weather Service. Typically, the bigger the hailstone, the faster it falls, though there are quite a few variables that affect the fall speed.

The largest hailstone known to man in the United States is exactly eight inches in diameter. It came from a storm near Vivian, South Dakota on July 23, 2010.